North Tustin, California
December 18, 1929 -October 13, 2023
Leslie Bernard Nesbitt (nicknamed Budd by his family) went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday October 13, 2023, at the age of 93. He was born on December 18, 1929, in Slaton, Texas, and was the third of eleven children born to Paul Morton Nesbitt and Bertie Alice Privett Nesbitt. When Budd was three, his family moved to Clovis, New Mexico where he was raised during the depression under very meager circumstances. His family’s favorite joke is that he burned down the “two-holer” (outhouse) one winter night by lighting pages of the Sears catalog on fire to “take off the chill.” He always said he loved school because of the “indoor facilities” and that motivated him to be the first of his family to graduate from high school.
After graduating from Clovis High School, Budd attended Eastern New Mexico University for three semesters before attending Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee. As he was preparing to graduate from Optometry School in 1951, his name came up for the draft so he elected to enlist in the Air Force. He served for three years as an Optometry Officer at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, California. Using the GI bill available to Korean War Vets, Budd then decided to attend Medical School at the University of Colorado where he graduated with his medical degree in 1960. He took his internship and residency at Orange County General Hospital, now UCI Medical Center, and was the first to complete an Ophthalmology Residency there. In 1964 he opened a practice in Orange and served on the staff of St. Joseph Hospital for thirty-three years, starting and chairing the EENT department in the late 1980s. From 1970-1980 he was Assistant Clinical Professor of Anatomy at UCI Medical School, as well as Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology from 1975-1995. In 1983 he joined the California Army National Guard 143d Evac Hospital, based in Los Alamitos, California where he earned a promotion to Lt Colonel as a reserve commissioned officer of the Army.
In 1959, when Les was 29 years old, he had open heart surgery to repair a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. This was in the days before bypass machines, so he was first cooled down in a frozen tub of ice water and then his heart was stopped for 3 minutes so the surgeon could make the repair. Without the repair, the prognosis was death by age 50. Instead, at age 50 Les ran his first marathon and then went on to complete an additional 13 marathons and countless half marathons and 10K races. When his knees no longer allowed him to run, he switched to the bike. None of this would have been possible without the 52 years of sobriety he enjoyed thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous where he was affectionately known as “Ungrateful Budd” by his many friends there.
In 1949 Budd married Juliet Pendleton Gallegos and they had four children, Robin Juliet 1954, Randolph Reed 1956, Rebecca Kathleen 1958 and Rick Leslie 1960. His second marriage to Mary Jean Rhodes added three more children, David Paul 1965, Leslie Bernard II 1969, and Mary Kristine 1972.
Budd/Les is survived by two brothers, Tom Nesbitt of Ames Iowa and Tim Nesbitt of Midland Texas, his wife of 58 years Mary Nesbitt, his seven children (listed above), 20 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.
Celebration of Life will be held at Waverly Chapel, Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana on Monday October 30th at 11:00 am with a lunch reception to follow at the family home.
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